Agricultural Baler Bale Length Control Reset
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing agricultural baler systems face errors in bale length at the start of a new harvesting run due to partial rotation of the star wheel caused by a partially formed bale at the end of the previous run, leading to incorrect bale formation.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating sensors to detect the activation of the bale-eject system and automatically resetting the bale-length control system to prevent carrying over the advance of the partially formed bale's length into the next run, ensuring consistent bale length production.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the bale-eject system is manually activated to evacuate bales at the end of a harvesting run, then the bales are successfully evacuated from the baling chamber, but the partial rotation of the star wheel by the partially formed bale causes errors in bale length at the start of the next run
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where sensors detect the activation of the bale-eject system and automatically reset the bale-length control system. This closed-loop feedback ensures that the partial rotation of the star wheel during bale ejection does not carry over to the next harvesting run, thereby maintaining bale length precision while preserving productive evacuation operations
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs self-service by automatically detecting its own state (through sensors monitoring bale-eject activation) and self-correcting (by automatically resetting the bale-length control system). This eliminates the need for manual intervention and prevents propagation of measurement errors to subsequent operations
2Extent of automation
If the star wheel rotation is used to control bale length, then bale formation is automated, but the partial rotation caused by partially formed bale leads to incorrect bale length in the next run
Solution Approach 1:
The automatic reset mechanism provides feedback to the bale-length control system, detecting when the star wheel has undergone partial rotation during bale ejection and correcting the measurement before the next bale formation begins. This maintains both automation and precision by preventing error accumulation
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces purely mechanical star wheel measurement with an enhanced system that incorporates sensors and automatic electronic resetting. This substitution maintains the mechanical simplicity of the star wheel while adding electronic correction to eliminate measurement errors
Data Source
Figure 1a~1b
Figure 2
Figure 3a~3b
AI summary
The present invention is related to an agricultural baler for producing rectangular bales (7), provided with a baling chamber (1) and reciprocating plunger (4), configured to move back and forth in the baling chamber (1), thereby compressing crop material and forming rectangular bales (7). The baler is further equipped with a bale length control system (10) for producing bales of substantially equal length, and with a bale-eject system (20-24) for evacuating the last bales from the chamber (1) at the end of a harvesting run. In order to avoid errors in terms of bale length at the beginning of a next run, the baler according to the invention is provided with one or more sensors (30) configured to detect the activation of said bale-eject system (20-24), and means to automatically reset said bale-length control system (10), when said sensors (30) detect said activation.